Fixed Total Number of Hours
In a software project students often have to fulfill a completely specified fixed total task, e.g. given by a system requirement specification, or have to perform a series of detailed tasks, given e.g. as several exercise descriptions. Instead, in an EASE project students agree on a fixed total number of hours that each student has to contribute to the project. Then it is the overall project task to contribute best to quality and quantity of an envisioned system. At project start only a description of the desired system's base functionality is given. The project proceeds with permanent collective task planning. This way students practice time estimation and requirement elicitation. Students may influence the actual system features, particularly they may emphasize on implementing functional requirements or non-functional requirements. Requiring man hours instead of requiring results is a central notion that enables the other EASE practices.